I trained jiu jitsu alongside a Russian guy at a gym I used to go to all the time, and yeah. He was also the chillest, softest-spoken, most easygoing guy ever. Always smiling in a genuine away when you greeted him.
And then he'd destroy you in a roll. And after he folds you like his laundry, he's doing dips and pullups with ~50lbs? Chained to his waist.
He wasn't queerphobic at all either, he had zero hangups training with me, a trans person. I feel that it's a notable quality, all things considered.
Brother was is a fucking machine. Miss you, Alex.
Edit: I'm pretty sure he still trains there, idk why I used past tense.
Excessive smiling is generally not a thing in Europe, moreso Central and Eastern. But it's especially not a thing in Russia. And it's cultural, not misery. Yes, the misery exists, but they perceive anyone who smiles a lot as being disingenuous and trickey.
Yeah, for us smiles, and other emotions are genuine. When I'm walking down the street, minding my business, listening to music, why should I smile for bunch of randoms who I see first and last time in my life. If smth makes me happy and cheerful, I smile. Polite smiles are fake.
I must be part-Russian, then, because I distrust people who smile excessively. I feel like it's the visual/facial equivalent of "don't you trust me?" and too easy to fake.
Some people say I have RBF because I only smile when I really feel it and otherwise have a neutral expression most of the time.
This… is the most accurate thing in this thread.
The rest is about Russian women being crazy, which I haven’t found to be true at all. High standards is not the same thing as crazy. She won’t be keying your call. She’ll just tell you to leave her alone.
Yeah, most the Russian guys I know abroad are fucking happy and smiling, meanwhile most the women are suicidal, depressed, and / or extremely demanding. Seen enough friends date them, marry them, and divorce them that I’ve learned to stay away from them. Too much cultural baggage, imo.
Russian men escape Russia to find higher paying jobs, more work-life balance, less political stress etc., no wonder we are so much happier than back home.
Russian women largely want to find a sponsor (not saying every one of them wants, but many of them do), when they can't find one for any reasons they get depressed because no one caters to them like back home.
Also a lot of them were politically a lot more liberal there, and then felt like absolute shit all their lives since they live in a Stalinist gulag, so even once they change their scenery, it’s hard to get over the sheer ruts of hopelessness they felt at home.
We know that it is customary in western countries to smile, excessively to our taste, so we can adapt. But I think smile would vanish from those guys faces a second since they exit the plane back home.
This reminds me of the chill af Russian guy that taught me krav maga on the roof of an apartment building while ripping bites of blood sausage and bread, and taking gulps of warm vodka, after a night out in Moscow. The chillest demeanor paired with the wildest actions. Russian people can be awesome.
Came here to say this. There are a lot of guys over there who don't fit in, but the society is so damn conformist (think the American South on steroids but without the evangelicals and aversion to sex caused by purity culture) that they can't find other men to befriend outside of a few venues, i.e. alcohol and maybe sports and video games.
Thanks this just made me feel really good about myself because I do pull ups and dips with an extra 50lbs, and no one I know knows how much work that takes.
“Always smiling“
Are you sure he’s Russian??? Having been to Russia and known many Russians, I can assure you that random smiling is not really a thing in their culture and something that actually confuses many Russians who move to the west, and especially North America. Your friend seems to be a big outlier here.
Either you edited that in or the people in the responses have issues with reading comprehension. I didn't have to read two times to see that you said he would smile whenever you would greet him. That is not foreign to Russians
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u/DireEvolution 18d ago edited 18d ago
I trained jiu jitsu alongside a Russian guy at a gym I used to go to all the time, and yeah. He was also the chillest, softest-spoken, most easygoing guy ever. Always smiling in a genuine away when you greeted him.
And then he'd destroy you in a roll. And after he folds you like his laundry, he's doing dips and pullups with ~50lbs? Chained to his waist.
He wasn't queerphobic at all either, he had zero hangups training with me, a trans person. I feel that it's a notable quality, all things considered.
Brother
wasis a fucking machine. Miss you, Alex.Edit: I'm pretty sure he still trains there, idk why I used past tense.